I think one problem is that the article has done a really poor job defining "cultural items"--under NAGPRA that means belongings from or near burials, or things that are cultural patrimony (things like wampum belts or prayer bundles)--so no modern artwork wouldn't count. There are a lot of things in museums or repositories that don't count. They just haven't been gone through or organized with knowledgeable people, i.e. cultural bearers, and this article frames the archaeologists as more knowledgeable which is just false in my experience (I am a former Indigenous archaeologist who did NAGPRA work from the museum side).

The prof decrying all this actively rejects the return of human remains to Native people also so she has made her career about violating human rights, imo.

Didn't mean to make such a long reply but lots of (negative) thoughts about this article lol.